New Start editorial Jul-Dec05
December 2005 *14 Whisper who dares, but could the Conservative party have elected a social democrat as its leader? *7 The news on the street is that there could be up to £5bn lying dormant in British bank accounts. Accounts orphaned by the death of their owners, forgotten by divorced couples or opened for children who never had the pleasure of seeing them grow. November 2005 *30 The question isn’t whether we should strive for sustainable communities, but whether in fact there are a range of communities that don’t look the same or act the same but are equally sustainable. *23 Urban Task Force Episode II: Attack of the Clones sees Lord Rogers emerging from his Manhattan hideaway, slashing a trail with his lightsabre through swathes of suburban mediocrity. *16 Every now and then I walk into a supermarket and feel as if I’ve walked into another world. It hits me that this is a country so rich that lots of people can afford to buy lots of things they don’t need and probably don’t even really want. People like me. *9 Last year the French social affairs minister, Jean-Louis Borloo, launched a grand plan for social cohesion. *2 Here we are, the cream of the regenerators. The creative inspirations behind Boho Britain. Renaissance man and woman, breathing new life into our towns and cities. October 2005 *26 When I was young and still wondering whether it was better to be called black or brown, I lived on a council estate in a stable community and went to the local junior school. *12 A while ago a bunch of top business leaders came out with a list of 17 ways to kill a new idea. The list begins with a typical Sir Humphreyism - see it coming and quickly change the subject. *5 Every year the three major parties have a heaven-sent opportunity to reinvigorate our political life and demonstrate the qualities of active citizenship they seek to instil in society. And what do we get? A performance that makes Everton’s Uefa Cup campaign look inspired. September 2005 *28 Looking for the hard to reach? Try your local chief executive’s office *14 Hidden away in a corner of Sheffield’s Peace Gardens is a memorial to Samuel Holberry, leader of the city’s Chartist movement in the nineteenth century. Given his treatment by the authorities, it’s a little ironic. *7 Have you noticed something a bit odd about those computer-generated graphics that accompany plans for new developments? There aren’t any old people in them. August 2005 *31 Anyone looking to define a sustainable community probably wouldn’t start in Peckham. Certainly not after reading this week’s news. *17 The first time I visited Sheffield, David Blunkett was leader of the council and you could go anywhere in south Yorkshire on a bus for a groat. *3 Every now and then I get regeneration panic attacks. My entire body goes rigid. My thoughts cancel each other out. I’m gripped by the fear that the jargon conceals a bottomless pit of meaninglessness; July 2005 *27 One of the many unpredicted consequences of the regeneration boom has been the delegate bag mountain. I can’t be the only person with a pile of unwanted black bags festooned with ODPM logos, some of them still containing invitations to drinks and nibbles at the exhibition stand of some sweaty-palmed property developer. *20 A terrorist event doesn’t have to be huge to shake our social fabric, but will seem huge if that social fabric is torn or frayed in the first place. *13 On Monday the beggar sitting on the pavement in London’s Euston Road summed up the mood. Next to him was a piece of cardboard with the scrawled message: ‘business as usual’. category:New Start editorials 2005